Hunter Biden reportedly received a 2.8 carat diamond from a Chinese energy tycoon

Former Vice President Joe Biden's son, Hunter, might be cause for concern for his father's presidential campaign, The New Yorker reports.

Hunter Biden has recently fallen under the microscope as details about his business dealings and personal life have come to light. The younger Biden's struggles with drugs and alcohol, divorce and subsequent relationship with his late brother Beau's widow, and questionable business practices in China and Ukraine are chief among the reasons why he could wind up being a thorn in the side of the Biden campaign.

In a sprawling piece, The New Yorker details how Hunter Biden, while on the board of the World Food Program USA, said he was gifted a 2.8 carat diamond by Chinese energy tycoon Ye Jianming, the head of CEFC China energy. Biden said he was trying to secure a large donation from Ye at the time. While he doesn't think the diamond was intended as a bribe as his father was no longer in office, Biden said he still washed his hands of the diamond by giving it to his associates. He said he does not know what they did with it.

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But during divorce proceedings, Biden's ex-wife, Kathleen, referenced the diamond, implying it was one of Biden's "personal indulgences."

Diamond aside, though, Biden continued working with Ye, negotiating a deal for CEFC to invest $40 million in a liquefied natural gas project in Louisiana. The deal eventually fell through when Ye was detained by Chinese authorities in 2018 in what was reportedly an anti-corruption charge. Biden maintains that Ye was not a "shady character" and chalked up the situation to "bad luck." Read more at The New Yorker.